Almost from the start the battle proved to be a growing series of disasters for the Republic. The first indication of trouble became evident when, due to the planet's conditions, the GAR could not land any of its heavy equipment. The second piece of bad news came when it was discovered that Republic Intelligence had underestimated the Separatist forces at Parcellus Minor by at least a factor of ten. On top of it all a Separatist reinforcement fleet arrived soon after the battle began, trapping the Republic army and its orbiting support fleet.

Despite incurring heavy casualties, the Republic force managed to fight off the Separatists for a protracted time. Finally the Separatist commander chose to order the execution of BDZ against the planet; using his ships' turbolasers, he ignited the flammable tzeotine resin created by all of that world's plant life. The remaining Republic and Separatist ground forces were nearly eliminated in the ensuing conflagration; in the haste to evacuate, General Darté was forced to order his forces to leave all wounded troopers behind. In the end over 90% of the clone troopers involved in the battle died, and it was later described as being close to a second Battle of Jabiim.